Entries in Underage
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Karson Yiu/ABC News(BEIJING) -- Foxconn Technology Group, the company that manufactures Apple’s iPhone, has confirmed reports that underage employees as young as 14 years old have been found working as interns at a factory site in China.

The company says the discovery was made during an internal investigation at its factory in Yantai.

"Our investigation has shown that the interns in question, who ranged in age from 14 to 16, had worked in that campus for approximately three weeks," Foxconn said in a statement. The company did not mention how many underage interns were found.

The workers were part of a government-sponsored internship program for students who are at least 16 years old -- the minimum age for employment in China. They have since been sent back to their schools.

Foxconn, which is owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., says it has launched a full investigation into the matter.

"We recognize that full responsibility for these violations rests with our company and we have apologized to each of the students for our role in this action. Furthermore, any Foxconn employee found, through our investigation, to be responsible for these violations will have their employment immediately terminated," the company said.

Foxconn is a major supplier of electronic components to large U.S. companies, including Apple and Microsoft. While it did not specify which products were produced in the Yantai factory, the company said the "facility has no association with any work we carry out on behalf of Apple."

NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP/Getty Images(YONKERS, N.Y.) -- Millions of kids under the age of 13 may be lying their way on to Facebook.

In violation of the social network's requirement that members be at least 13 years old to open an account, about 7.5 million users in the U.S. are under the age of 13, and about five million are under the age of 10, Consumer Reports said in a report released Tuesday. That's out of 20 million U.S. minors in total who actively used Facebook last year, Consumer Reports said.

The annual survey, which looks at the "State of the Net," asked more than 2,000 U.S. households with an Internet connection about their experiences with online security threats, social networks and identity theft.

Jeff Fox, technology editor for Consumer Reports, said the 7.5 million figure was extrapolated from the number of parents surveyed who knew that their underage children were Facebook members. But even that number could be low, he said, because they can't estimate the number of kids who join the site without their parents' knowledge.

Reacting to the report, Facebook said it is not easy for an online company to enforce an age limit.

"Recent reports have highlighted just how difficult it is to implement age restrictions on the Internet and that there is no single solution to ensuring younger children don't circumvent a system or lie about their age," the social network said in a written statement. "We appreciate the attention that these reports and other experts are giving this matter and believe this will provide an opportunity for parents, teachers, safety advocates and Internet services to focus on this area, with the ultimate goal of keeping young people of all ages safe online."

Facebook's privacy policy does caution kids under 13 years old against registering for an account.

"If we learn that we have collected personal information from a child under age 13, we will delete that information as quickly as possible," the company says.

To verify that each user is old enough open an account, Facebook asks members to enter their birth dates when they sign up. But Fox called the safeguard "a pretty flimsy screening." ﻿